THE INFLUENCE OF STARTER CULTURES OF LACTIC ACID BACTERIA ON FERMENTATION OF WHITE CABBAGE

The current investigation delineates the impact of lactic acid bacteria starter cultures of two collection strains(L. plantarum IC12353 (Lpl)) and L. paracasei CCM1837 (Lpa)) and two new isolates (L. plantarum P35 (LAB35) andL. brevis P43 (LAB43)) on the cabbage fermentation process. The content of bioactive compounds, antioxidant activityas well as the colony-forming unit counts were assessed in fermented cabbage samples. The analyzed samples revealednoteworthy quantities of phenolic compounds, ranging from 16.91 to 30.71 mg gallic acid equivalents/100 grams of freshsample, with the highest values for LAB35 and LAB43, while Lpl had the lowest content of polyphenolics. Moreover, thevitamin C content ranged between 50.82 and 60.35 mg ascorbic acid/100 g, while DPPH values varied from 245.80 to444.42 μmol Trolox equivalent/100g. The observed variations in the data on bioactive compounds and antioxidant activitycan be attributed to the specific lactic acid bacteria strain used in the cabbage fermentation process. This highlights theimportance of microbial strains in determining antioxidant properties of the final fermented product.